Wednesday, 24 October 2012

Back in January, we featured the mysterious Miracle Cave's 1984 album "Turquoise Coal" from which we took our name. Since then we have managed to locate a copy of their debut release from the previous year. Once again, the album covers a wide stylistic range and again features one cover version among the group's originals, this time a version of Soft Cell's 1982 chart hit "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye". These two cassette releases comprised the group's entire recorded output, and they never performed live. The cover image for "Coping with Illness" was provided by Ghostriders / Megabats drummer Mark Thomas and featured a series of mystical esoteric symbols that Mark saw as representing the character of the group.As far as we know, it remains the legendary drummer's sole foray into sleeve design.

The Megabats played regularly around the Bangor area, and supported chart
biggies Haircut One Hundred on one occasion and up and coming press darlings The Smiths
on another (14th October 1983). Most of the group's material was written by Maeyc, some of which ("Flags", "Betrayed") had previously been aired in a different form by The Pinecones, and others would later be adapted for future groups - "Sunday Sunday" (not played at this gig) by Reinheitsgebot and "Australians" by Third Spain, all of who can be found elsewhere on this site.

Maeyc Hewitt and Ian McMillan photo: Ann Matthews

Their organ-powered garage rock sound was at times reminiscent of The Blue Orchids or The Modern Lovers, but Maeyc's distinctive songs and vocals gave The Megabats a sound very much of their own, and the group really cooked live, driving audiences into a frenzy.

Very few recordings of the group have come to light, although one further live recording in addition to this one is known to exist but is yet to surface. Here however, we present a full length 65 minute headline set from the Students Union Jazz Room in Bangor, capturing the group at their creative peak.

Phil Layton photo: Ann Matthews

In Summer 1984, Phil moved away, his University course having finished and the group disbanded, Maeyc and Ian joining up with Alan Holmes, Scott Saunders and Emyr Tomos to form Reinheitsgebot. After a couple of gigs however, Mark returned to the fold, replacing Emyr on drums in November 1984.

Saturday, 13 October 2012

We've had several requests for more Fflaps since posting the rare original mix of their debut album back in February. Before posting the official releases, we bring you another rare archive recording, comprising the two sessions the group recorded for John Peel's legendary BBC Radio One programme.

The group recorded their first Peel session on March 13th 1988 on the back of their debut EP on Recordiau Anhrefn, which had been a favourite with the DJ. Rather than reprising any of the songs from that EP, they chose to present four unreleased tracks that would appear on their debut LP 'Amhersain' later that year. The session was produced by the notoriously cantankerous ex-Mott the Hoople drummer Dale Griffin, who managed to render Jonny's ramshackle drum kit even more unplayable than it already was with some heavy handed 'adjustments'.

Fflaps at the Berlin Wall, August 1988

It was to be another two years before Fflaps were invited to record another session, by which time John Peel had decided he didn't really like their new material very much (it was producer John Walters that offered them the session). Between the two sessions, the group had toured extensively around the UK and Europe and had become a finely honed and razor sharp crack unit. Even the repeat presence of Dale Griffin was unable to derail them this time, and the group were relaxed enough to spend much of the day hanging out with The Wee Papa Girl Rappers who were recording a session next door.

In typically contrary fashion, apart from a cursory run through the title track, the group chose to ignore their newly released second album 'Malltod' in favour of previewing three new songs which were not to be officially released until February 1992.

Friday, 12 October 2012

The legendary Bangor music scene of the early 80s threw up many
short-lived acts who would ignite in one fleeting burst of incandescence
before dissolving into the shadows of myth. Names like The Axolotl,
Gentle Reminders, One Hour Later Over Iran, The Baudelaires, Fugitive
Binoculars, The Legendary Mountaineers, The Bellman, Sharon Angstrom,
Armchair Theatre and The Dekorators all come to mind, yet none seemed quite as elusive as Kärnarvøn Kästle, who played live only once, at Bangor's famous Glanrafon Pub on the 13th of August 1982.

The group stood out from many of the other names of the period by their
eccentric policy of only rehearsing at sunset in the deserted Iron-age
village of Tre'r Ceiri, on the summit of a mountain some 25
miles from their home. After carrying out this strange ritual three
times a week for the month leading up to their gig, the group then spent
an hour jogging around the streets of Bangor that evening before
running straight onto the stage to perform. To further complicate
matters, their set was then performed largely on instruments they hadn't
previously played the material on, due to the obvious logistical
problems of carrying them up the mountain - only the saxophones and
trumpet had featured in rehearsal. Despite this the spiritual unity,
telepathic intuition and discipline instilled by their rigorous routine
almost paid off, and their performance teetered at times on the edge of
competence.

We hope to unearth lost, forgotten or obscure music from the north Wales music scene of the past few decades and make it available again, or in many cases, for the first time.

Much of the music here has never seen an official release, and the stuff that has is all currently out of print as far as we know. Wherever possible, at least one member of the respective band has given permission for their music to be uploaded, but if anyone else has a claim to the copyright of anything here that they object to being shared, please get in touch with us and we will remove it.

All downloads are encoded as 320 kbs mp3s, providing as reasonably good quality sound as can be expected in the circumstances.